Japan's swimmer king Kosuke Kitajima said in Beijing on Monday that he is in a good shape now and longing for a shining performance during the forthcoming Olympic competition.

"I've been through regular training recently and I feel good physically and mentally", Kitajima told reporters when he finished the a training session at the National Aquatics Center, known as Water Cube.

The double Olympic champion declined to answer a reporter's question that whether he could defend his titles during the Games.

"I don't want to think much about the Games, and right now, I just concentrate on the training to maintain my form", Kitajima said.

In the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Kitajima beat his long-time rival American swimmer Brendan Hansen and won gold in the 100 and 200 meters breaststroke. Hansen settled for a silver in the 100 meters and a bronze in the other.

Two months before the Beijing Olympic Games, wearing Speedo LZR Racer, Kitajima finished in 2 minutes, 7.51 seconds at the Japan Open, shaving almost a second off the previous mark of the men's 200 breaststroke.

Kitajima told reporters that his record breaking performance gave him a lot of confidence. "The only thing I have in mind right now is to win the gold in Beijing," he was quoted as saying then.

After brief warm-up at the Water Cube, the Japanese swimmers will leave Beijing tomorrow for Chejudo, South Korea, and return to Beijing on August 2.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)